Report: Texas found 276 Cases of Groundwater Contamination Last Year

Types pollutants varied: gasoline, diesel and petroleum products were most common

State regulators last year documented 276 new cases of groundwater contamination across Texas, a slight increase compared to 2014 but far fewer than in years past.

That’s according to the annual “Joint Groundwater Monitoring and Contamination Report” published last week by the Texas Groundwater Projection Committee, a collection of nine state agencies and a groundwater district group.

The committee’s report offers a comprehensive look at fouled groundwater in Texas, a state that taps the resource for roughly 60 percent of its water needs.

New pollution cases in 2015 eclipsed the tally from the previous year, when regulators recorded 272 instances. But the number sat far below any other year during past two decades.